mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: That their PC boots to a black screen with a…
A user reports that their PC boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor after installing a new SSD. The BIOS detects the SSD, but the system does not load the operating system. What is the most likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The boot order in BIOS is set to the old drive first.
A blinking cursor after POST often indicates the system cannot find a bootable operating system. This commonly happens when the boot order is incorrect or the new SSD is not set as the first boot device.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The SSD is not compatible with the motherboard.
Why it's wrong here
If the BIOS/UEFI successfully detects the Solid State Drive (SSD), it confirms that the fundamental hardware interface (e.g., SATA, NVMe) and basic communication protocols are compatible with the motherboard. A blinking cursor typically indicates that the system found a boot device but failed to locate or execute a valid operating system bootloader, not a complete lack of hardware recognition.
- ✓
The boot order in BIOS is set to the old drive first.
Why this is correct
A blinking cursor after the Power-On Self-Test (POST) signifies that the system successfully initialized hardware but failed to load an operating system from the designated boot device. If the BIOS/UEFI boot order is still configured to prioritize an old, possibly removed or empty, drive, the system will attempt to boot from it, fail, and then halt at a blinking cursor without proceeding to the new SSD.
- ✗
The SATA cable is faulty.
Why it's wrong here
A faulty SATA data or power cable would typically prevent the BIOS/UEFI from detecting the Solid State Drive (SSD) entirely during the initial Power-On Self-Test (POST) phase. Since the problem description implies the system is attempting to boot from a drive (leading to a blinking cursor), the SSD must be detected, thus ruling out a simple cable malfunction as the root cause.
- ✗
The SSD needs to be partitioned.
Why it's wrong here
An unpartitioned or unformatted SSD would prevent an operating system from booting, but the system's error message would likely be more explicit, such as 'No bootable device found' or 'Operating System not found.' A blinking cursor usually indicates that the system *did* find a device and attempted to hand off control, but the boot sector or bootloader on that device was either missing or invalid, rather than a complete absence of partition structure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 972 original 220-1201 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.